Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

WHO issues new plan for pandemic flu preparedness

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization has published a new pandemic influenza preparedness plan that puts increased emphasis on the possibility of delaying a flu pandemic to buy time for improving the world's defenses against it.

Silent carriers: possible culprits in avian flu transmission?

April 12, 2005 (CIDRAP News) Although an 8-year-old Cambodian girl's death was caused by the H5N1 virus, it's not clear how she developed avian flu.

She had been in contact with infected chickens in February, "but the exposure period is too long," said Megge Miller, a World Health Organization (WHO) official in Cambodia, in an Agence France-Presse (AFP) story. The girl became sick on Mar 29 and died on Apr 7, news reports said.

Avian flu claims third victim in Cambodia

(CIDRAP News) Avian influenza claimed its third Cambodian victim when an 8-year-old girl died in a Phnom Penh hospital Apr 7, news services reported yesterday.

The girl was from Kampot, the same province as Cambodia's first two victims of H5N1 avian flu, said Ly Sovann, head of the Cambodian health minstry's infectious disease department, as quoted in an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.

Vietnamese girl's death adds to avian flu toll

(CIDRAP News) A 10-year-old girl is the latest victim of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in Vietnam, news services reported today.

Nguyen Hai Yen died Mar 27 in Hanoi's St. Paul's Hospital, and tests confirmed her illness on Apr 4, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported today. Nguyen lived in Hanoi, said a hospital staff doctor who wished to remain unidentified.

North Korea has Asia's first outbreak of H7 avian flu

April 5, 2005 (CIDRAP News) The strain of avian influenza responsible for the deaths of 219,000 poultry in North Korea is not the same as the lethal H5N1 strain many experts fear could cause a worldwide pandemic.

Vietnam reports another avian flu case

(CIDRAP News) A 27-year-old woman in central Vietnam has tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report published today.

The woman tested positive yesterday and is hospitalized in stable condition, Nguyen Van Nuoi, a physician at the main hospital in Ha Tinh province, told AFP. She was admitted Mar 29 with a high fever, which has since abated, he said.

HHS funds development of cell-based flu vaccines

(CIDRAP News) – Sanofi Pasteur has won a $97 million federal contract to develop cell-culture technology for making influenza vaccines and to design a facility to use this technology to make a pandemic flu vaccine, federal officials have announced.

Family cluster of avian flu cases reported in Vietnam

(CIDRAP News) Initial testing indicates that all five members of a family of chicken farmers near Haiphong, Vietnam, have avian influenza, the World Health Organization (WHO) and news services said today.

North Korea confirms avian flu outbreak in poultry

(CIDRAP News) North Korea yesterday confirmed recent reports of an avian influenza outbreak among poultry, but officials did not specify whether it involved the H5N1 virus, which has struck nine other Asian countries in the past 16 months.